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January 15, 2015 | Last year was full of data breaches. From JPMorgan Chase to Sony to Apple nothing seemed safe. Not your credit cards. Not your iTunes account. And President Obama seemed intent on addressing concerns over the ruptures Tuesday when he indicated that he would send a package to Capitol Hill to tackle some key cybersecurity issues. Among…

January 9, 2014 | A watershed moment for the finances of members of Congress: In 2012, more than half were millionaires, a new analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics shows. Also, Darrell Issa reclaims the top spot.

June 28, 2013 | The oil and gas industry pumped plenty of money into the 2012 campaign funds of the sponsors and cosponsors of two bills to expand offshore drilling that were passed by the House this week.

June 11, 2013 | Last week's revelations that the U.S. government was collecting data on millions of phone calls made through Verizon and running an Internet surveillance program targeting foreign nationals via major online corporations, make it almost inevitable that the issue of electronic privacy -- already a hot topic in 2012 -- will vault to near the top of the lobbying charts in 2013. Even before the recent news of government snooping made headlines, a number of bills impacting privacy and cybersecurity had already been introduced this year.

February 19, 2013 | Justice Clarence Thomas was on the bench today hearing a case involving seed patents held by his previous employer, Monsanto. Thomas aside, though, Monsanto has plenty of friends in Washington: It's the big guy on the agribusiness block when it comes to providing campaign cash and lobbying muscle.

February 15, 2013 | When the Democrats were putting together their convention in Charlotte, they shunned corporate contributions, only to run into a funding crisis. Their workarounds included a loan guaranteed by Duke Energy -- a loan that appears to be turning into a donation.

January 16, 2013 | Think the Congress that just ended was out of touch with America? The new one may be no better, judging by how much it's worth. Overall, lawmakers are even wealthier than in previous years, according to our analysis of their 2011 financial disclosure statements, and 257 of them -- seven more than in 2010 -- are millionaires.

May 17, 2012 | Republicans and Democrats rushed this week to argue that stronger government regulation would or wouldn't have forestalled JPMorgan Chase's multibillion dollar losses. But they didn't mention whether they owned shares in the bank themselves. At least 38 of them do.

November 15, 2011 | These days, being a millionaire typically qualifies you as part of the one percent. But in Congress, it only makes you average. About 47 percent of Congress, or 250 current members of Congress, are millionaires, according to a new study by the Center for Responsive Politics of lawmakers' personal financial disclosure forms covering calendar year 2010.

September 20, 2011 | President Barack Obama's new tax proposal, which has been dubbed the "Buffett rule," may include a change in how capital gains are taxed. According to the Center's research, 176 current members of the House and 48 sitting senators reported capital gains in 2009.

August 25, 2011 | Three dozen members of Congress held stock in Apple in 2009, the most recent year for which data is available. That makes it one of the most popular assets among all congressional investors.

June 20, 2011 | Several congressmen were eager to sever all ties with the companies responsible for one of the biggest environmental disasters in the nation's history. OpenSecrets Blog previously reported that high-ranking members of congress dumped their BP assets in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill last year. And another analysis of personal financial disclosure documents released last week shows that many also divested their stocks for Transocean, the company that owned the Deepwater Horizon oil platform that BP operated.

June 15, 2011 | High-ranking congressmen made a concerted effort to financially distance themselves from BP in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, either by reducing or altogether dumping their stock holdings, according to a Center for Responsive Politics analysis of lawmakers' personal financial disclosure documents released Tuesday.

June 15, 2011 | Instead of today, 76 House representatives will sometime this summer release reports on their stock, bond and mutual fund holdings, as well as investments in real estate, ownership interests in private companies and cash, according to a tally by the Center for Responsive Politics.

June 15, 2011 | Many members of Congress have a vested interest -- beyond just their political careers -- in the performance of the same organizations that are supposed to be their watchdogs, a Center for Responsive Politics investigation indicates.

November 23, 2010 | A handful of federal lawmakers are invested in one of the companies behind the controversial full-body scanning machines now in more than 60 U.S. airports. The individual investments are worth thousands, and in some cases tens or hundreds of thousands, of dollars.

November 17, 2010 | Despite a stubbornly sour national economy congressional members' personal wealth collectively increased by more than 16 percent between 2008 and 2009, according to a new study by the Center for Responsive Politics of federal financial disclosures released earlier this year.

June 8, 2010 | The company that owns a pipeline that exploded Monday in north Texas, Houston-based Enterprise Products Company, is on pace spent more on federal lobbying this year than any other year they've lobbied the federal government, according to a Center for Responsive Politics review of lobbying reports.

February 10, 2010 | With automobile maker Toyota facing heavy congressional scrutiny for a series of damning safety recalls, it's worth noting that several members of Congress last year reported owning stock in the company, a Center for Responsive Politics analysis indicates.

December 23, 2009 | 'TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE A CHRISTMAS EVE SHOWDOWN: Yes, the Senate is preparing to vote on a health care reform bill Thursday, on Christmas Eve. Members have been engaged in a flurry of legislative back-and-forth, seemingly incapable of much beside the task at hand, particularly considering that they'll likely spend Christmas itself in Washington, D.C. But alas, this hasn't stopped two senators from opposite ends of the political spectrum from penning a pair of dueling 'Twas the Night Before Christmas spoofs.

October 21, 2009 | The South Carolina's 2nd Congressional District is currently the most expensive House race in the country, but it's not the only place in the country where strong third quarter fund-raising totals show incumbents and challengers eagerly battling each other.

October 16, 2009 | An initial Center for Responsive Politics analysis has found that sitting members of the U.S. House of Representatives raised $48.2 million from July 1 through Sept. 30, 2009, based on the 336 reports we have in. The mean amount these lawmakers raised was $143,640, and the median amount was $126,680.

September 28, 2009 | "CO2 IS GREEN" FLUSH WITH GREENBACKS: The men at the helm of two new energy advocacy groups trying to derail the climate change bill in the Senate have been consistent campaign donors throughout the years.

August 17, 2009 | Nearly 1,400 candidates have filed campaign finance reports with the Federal Election Commission, indicating that they'll be vying for one of the 468 congressional seats that will open up next year. It won't feel like a quick sprint, however, especially for those candidates in particularly close races who've already raised millions of dollars. We know the final stretch is a ways off yet, but here are our early observations, including contributions reported between April and June.

July 7, 2009 | Richard Ianieri, the defense contractor charged today with accepting $200,000 in kickbacks from a subcontractor, was the president of a company that gave more money to Rep. John Murtha (D-Penn.) than any other lawmaker--including the years after Ianieri left Coherent Systems International and Argon ST bought it.

June 25, 2009 | Here's a cool tool that brings together data from various parts of OpenSecrets.org to show how much money each current lawmaker has raised from various health-related industries and the health sector overall since 1989 (including President Obama's haul).

June 16, 2009 | Members of Congress that control government spending and oversee the beleaguered financial sector are having a hard time getting their own finances in order, CRP has found. Forty of the 63 lawmakers who still haven't filed their 2008 personal financial disclosure (PFD) reports, due May 15, sit on a congressional committee related to the federal budget, appropriations or financial sector oversight.

February 18, 2009 | As the story behind the embattled investment company Stanford Financial Group develops, we thought we'd take an even closer look at the seeds the company may have tried to plant in Washington via campaign contributions. When looking at ALL lawmakers to collect money from the company's PAC and employees (not just members of the current Congress), some additional, important names appear at the top of the recipient list.

February 17, 2009 | Money manager Robert Allen Stanford now has two things in common with embattled investment manager Bernard Madoff: both have come under scrutiny for allegedly defrauding their investors, and both have given significant funds to politicians. Between its PAC and its employees, Stanford Financial Group has given $2.4 million to federal candidates, parties and committees since 2000.

February 12, 2009 | The close ties between Rep. John Murtha and a Washington lobbying firm raided by the FBI have put the powerful Pennsylvania Democrat under greater scrutiny. The lobbyists at PMA Group have been Murtha's fifth most generous campaign donor over time, but he is just one of 284 members of the 111th Congress who have collected money from the firm, which specializes in securing federal earmarks for its clients. In total, PMA Group's employees and its political action committee have given current members of Congress $3.4 million since 1989.

October 6, 2008 | On its own, fundraising is a serious challenge; add the obstacle of navigating complicated campaign finance laws and it's enough to deter many from the political arena. However, individuals with deep pockets can finance their own campaigns, and unlike contributions raised from other people, there is no limit to how much personal money candidates can give themselves. Capital Eye takes a look at the top self-funders seeking congressional office this election cycle.

June 18, 2008 | If you're sick of counting your own pennies, now you can take a break and check out what your representatives are worth. The Center for Responsive Politics has updated our Personal Financial Disclosures database to include the 2007 annual reports for all members of Congress, at least those who filed their reports on time.

November 3, 2004 | Almost as soon as Election Day concluded, one thing was certain: Money won big in the 2004 elections.
In 95 percent of House races and 91 percent of Senate races that had been decided by mid-day today, the candidate who spent the most money won, according to a post-election analysis by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. The findings are based on figures reported Oct. 13 to the Federal Election Commission.

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